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Electrogenerative Removal of Cobalt from Sulfate Solutions Using a Batch Reactor
Author(s) -
Tan Wan Xin,
Mohamed Norita
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
clean – soil, air, water
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1863-0669
pISSN - 1863-0650
DOI - 10.1002/clen.201000168
Subject(s) - cobalt , cathode , scanning electron microscope , graphite , boric acid , materials science , zinc , chemical engineering , electrode , carbon fibers , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , metallurgy , composite material , organic chemistry , composite number , engineering
The electrogenerative removal of cobalt is conducted in a batch reactor equipped with three‐dimensional electrodes: Reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) and porous graphite (PG‐25) as cathode materials. In this process, a chemical reaction takes place spontaneously in a divided cell where cobalt is reduced at the cathode and zinc is oxidized to produce electrical energy without an external supply of energy. The results obtained show that RVC serves as a more suitable cathode material than PG‐25 in this system. At optimum conditions, more than 99% of cobalt were removed and recovered in its metallic state after 10 h of operation with an initial 200 mg L −1 Co(II) solution at pH 4 in 0.2 M Na 2 SO 4 and 0.4 M boric acid. Scanning electron microscopy and X‐ray diffraction analyses are performed to study the morphology and crystallographic patterns of cobalt deposits on the cathodes, respectively.